Edelman's European CEO and author, David Brain, kindly invited me along to the launch of his new book this week at the Groucho Club.
Crowd Surfing, co-written with Martin Thomas, is about how changes in society - and more specifically consumer empowerment - are changing the commercial and political landscape (Regular readers of this blog will know that these are two themes right up my street).
One barrier I think any author writing about this topic will encounter is how to adequately summarise and crystallise ideas or examples that have become almost cliches or accepted logic in business - and particularly marketing -circles.
Everyone seems to 'get' Web Two Point Oh and want a digital empowerment strategy as standard. But in the rush to 'tick the boxes' (as I heard one client remark recently) there is the real risk to entirely misunderstand what changes are *really* happening and why.
I haven't yet finished my copy of the book but so far and Crowd Surfing hasn't disappointed. The authors give a clear outline of what the phenomenon of 'customer empowerment' looks like and why is matters.
Subsequent chapters look like they will provide clear case studies illustrating real life examples of where companies have got it right and wrong. I see that the 2012 logo launch makes its way to the pages; a case study with which I may be a little too familiar!
James Cherkoff has read the book and already posted his review.
It was also great to catch up with Antony Mayfield, Stephen Davies, Stuart Bruce and Justin Kerr-Stevens again. And also to meet Amelia Torode and Dom Campbell for the first time.
Technorati tags: Crowd Surfing, David Brain, Martin Thomas
The book arrived recently after I ordered it after reading about it here, I think. Now I better read all the other books in the queue to get to it!
Posted by: Damien Mulley | September 28, 2008 at 02:14 PM
Good to meet you too - did you know that our offices are about 3 seconds walk from each other??
Posted by: Amelia | September 30, 2008 at 11:49 AM